I was making sacrifices to attend tonight’s game. The El
Paso Chihuahuas were playing on national TV tonight on Stadium. Fernando Tatis Jr. was in the lineup. He’d only gone 5 for 6 with 8 RBI’s and 3
home runs on Thursday. Tim Hagerty, voice of the Chihuahuas, had
even written me today with a “thank you” for putting up a positive review of
his new book, Tales from the Dugout. (And it is great.) Not to mention, I’d also forgot about today’s
MLB.TV free game and missed it
entirely. I was pissed.
However, the Aggies
did good Friday night against Stephen F.
Austin, a team that was second in the WAC
standings. The Aggies beat SFA with a run
rule win, 16-6. The game ended suddenly in the eighth inning,
when a misjudged fly ball was dropped and three unearned runs scored.
I was still a little skeptical. I did briefly try to talk Ron into watching
the Chihuahuas instead when he picked me up, but it was a non-starter. (Dad, at least, said he’d be watching the
game at home.) The good news is that
last night’s big win activated the Raising
Canes Challenge. Ron had picked up a
coupon for a two-for-one meal deal, which we deliciously cashed in on.
It was a beauty of a night at the ballpark tonight. There was a clear blue sky with a light
breeze and a good crowd of over 800.
This some mostly due to a fraternity and a sorority showing up with
their parents. (I heard it was also
mandatory for them.) Adam Young on the radio call tonight
came by. He talked to a family behind
us. He said AD Mario Moccia wasn’t here last night. Adam told him to stay away and not jinx the
streak.
Cal
Villareal and Logan Galina
were back in the lineup. It’s been
awhile. The most notable addition to the
team was an adorable little bat boy.
Dressed in an oversized jersey and a hat too big, the kid hustled and
was alert and enthusiastic for the entire game.
I am not overstating this small child’s competence at his job. He was a treat and delight to watch in
action.
About four times, I was sure my scorecards were going to
get destroyed by a team batting around, but it never happened. I also completely muffed the scoring the top
of the second, but somehow recovered and corrected it in-game. This game was a challenge to score at times.
Pablo
Cortes was tapped to start for the Aggies. He worked into early trouble with 3 straight
singles, which scored a run. Pablo came
back with some good stuff, including a knockout curve, to finish the inning
with a pair of strikeouts. 1-0 SFA. The frat section was vocal early in this one
with their cheering. Behind me, a girl
was singing along to a Taylor Swift song on the PA. Ugh.
Ron has been teasing me relentless lately about my former love
interest. She never even write a song
about me.
And here we go.
Bottom of the first, Kevin Jones
II led off with a home run to left center.
The frat guys went off with a Tomahawk Chop cheer. After a follow up single and a double, Nolan Funke cashed them in with a
single. A single came next, along with Nick Gore driving Funke in with another
single. Kevin Jimenez and Funke were both fired up as they crossed the
plate in the inning.
There was a mound visit by the coach after 5 straight
hits. The Frats sang to him while he was
out there. Lumberjack pitcher, Conner
Woods, would get out of the inning with a double play and a fly out. Remember that name. It was a 9-batter inning. 5-1 Aggies.
A double began the top of the first. KJII made a great leaping catch in right
next, but there was nothing to be done about a home run shot after that. After a walk and a single, there was a
run-scoring single along with an errant throw for an error. The bleeding stopped there, but now it was 5-4
Aggies.
Between innings, the frat guys shouted out to a girl
coming back from the Concessions. They
knew her by name. The guys also went
crazy for a hat toss to the crowd. The
Aggies got 2 on via a hit batter and Funke making an “excuse me” swing for a
single, but no one scored.
Two singles began the top of the third and Pablo came
out. None of these singles in the game
looked hard hit. I couldn’t believe how
they were just finding the holes. I got
a phone call from my dad at this point to tell me that Tatis had hit a home run
in El Paso. (He would hit 2 in the game
in a big win for the Chihuahuas.) I
wasn’t feeling entirely good about my entertainment choices this evening.
I was about to feel worse.
A run-scoring single, a walk, a run-scoring walk, a run-scoring sac fly,
and another walk would chase Saul Soto
and bring in Hayden Johns to get the
final out of the inning. 7-5 SFA. Ouch.
Amazingly, the next two frames would go 1-2-3. In the bottom of the fourth, Logan led off
with a home run to right center. The
ball bounced off the top of the wall, off a tree, and then back on to the
field. That was good to see from Logan
given his recent injury. KJII said,
"Hey, let me try that, too,” and hit another homer to the same place. After a single by Mitch Namie, KJ drove him in with a home run blast to right.
Some of the fans behind us came back from the Concessions at
this point. “We missed everything!” they
exclaimed. Conner Woods was relieved at
this point by Reid Boyett. He allowed a pair of singles (again, more
singles), but finished out the inning.
The Aggies again sent 9 batters to the plate. The Aggies were back up 9-7.
Funke began the top of the fifth flashing some
leather. He went to his right at short
and made a jump throw to nip the runner at first. (Maybe?
We’ll take it.) This was followed
by a hit batter. Lumberjack Alex Rogers took it personal and stole
second, on a pitchout no less. Johns got
a fly out next, but after issuing a walk, he was relieved by Will Sierra. A pitch hit the ground during the next at
bat. Rogers took off for third and made
it, but Peyton Parker at first,
unwisely tried to take second during the play and was picked off in a quick
rundown.
Logan led off the bottom of the fifth. One of his foul balls arced back into the
stands. The ball landed with a clang on the aluminum walkway in front
of a fan. He brought the ball back to
his seat. A girl then shouted at him,
“I’m your girlfriend!” I guess she
wanted the ball. I don’t know. Boyett struck out Logan. The frat guys chanted, “We want Conner!” KJII got an infield hit off the pitcher, but
a double play ended the inning.
Sierra struck out the first batter of the sixth on three
pitches. He also tagged out the next
batter on an infield hit. Will
surrendered a walk next. Christian Perez at third took a bouncer
off the chest for an error. With two on,
Will struck out Sam Adams to end the
inning. What a cool name. A lady behind me mentioned it, as well. Boyett gave up a single and double in the
bottom, but a third SFA double play of the game and a strikeout ended the
frame.
KJII made a couple more good catches in right in the
seventh. Mitch made a great catch at
first on a low liner to end the inning. Skylar Jaco came in for Boyett in the bottom. The frat guys serenaded him, “He’s not
Conner!” Jaco made a couple of wide
pitches to walk the first batter to the chant of “Here comes Conner!” There was another hit batter, but both
runners were left stranded.
Unfortunately, the frat guys left in the top of the
eighth. I admit I was loving these
guys. Matt Maloney came on. I’d
heard an interview with him this
week. Matt’s a converted catcher and has
a really impressive attitude. Matt began
the inning with a walk and a single.
After 2 balls to the next batter, Coach
Zuniga came out for a talk. Matt
came back with 3 straight strikeouts.
Good talk.
The Aggie dugout was loose. They were dancing to a rap song on the PA,
“It’s a party!” But, they went down in
order in the bottom of the eighth. Matt
began the top of the ninth with a looking strikeout. Rogers hit a liner into the right field
corner, but he initially thought it was foul and was held to a single.
After another single, the coach came back out for a
talk. There was no one warming up in the
bullpen. This talk didn’t go as
well. Matt made a bad pickoff throw that
scored a run and advanced the other runner to third, who was brought in on a
sac fly. After another single, Matt
finished the inning with a strikeout. We
were tied at 9.
A group of little kids took up the cheering for the
team. How was this one going to
end? Regretfully or triumphantly? Gore got it started in the bottom of the
ninth with a walk. I was little
surprised that the catcher wasn’t taken out for a pinch runner. (Perhaps Hunter
Antillon wasn’t available to catch.)
Preston Godfrey came up
next. He made two bunt attempts, but
thankfully Gore advanced to second on a wild pitch. Okay, hit away Preston! That he did.
He hammered one to left field that cleared the wall. Walk it off!
Aggies win 11-9.
In spite of 3 errors, the Aggies had some good
defense. SFA left 13 on base, so they
had their chances. Their pitching
limited walks (3), but the Aggies avoided strikeouts early in the game. When the Aggies put the ball in play, good
things happened. It was two iffy
pitching staffs versus two good-hitting lineups. It felt like this one could have gone either
way.
Lots of Gameballs to hand out. For the Lumberjacks, Peyton Parker went 2 for 3 with 4 RBI’s that came in via 2 singles
and 2 sacrifices. Also, reliever Reid Boyett pitched 3 scoreless innings
for the Jacks and kept them in it. For
the Aggies, relievers Hayden Johns and
Will Sierra combined to lock down
the lead for over 4 innings. (Honorable
mention to Matt Maloney. His 2 runs were unearned, though it was his
throwing error that made them unearned.
Out of the 6 outs he got, 5 were strikeouts.) Keith
Jones II went 3 for 5 with 2 home runs, along with some great defense in right
field. Finally, you know Preston Godfrey gets one for his
game-winning 2-run homer.
I felt good about my decision to go to tonight’s game finally. It came in at just under 3 hours and had been exciting. While waiting for Ron in the bathroom, the despondent Lumberjacks filed out through the front gate. I tried saying “Good game,” as some passed by, but they mostly had a thousand-yard stare going. One of the guys was friendly, but I missed his number. I felt kind of bad for them. Anyway, I guess I’ll return for the finale and possible sweep on Sunday.
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